Meetings between multiple individuals conducted in two or more separate locations that are remote to one another can be facilitated using audio and/or video (A/V) conferencing services provided by a dedicated conferencing system, or by a web based conferencing application. Historically, proprietary conference systems have been somewhat cumbersome to use, and a conference call could only be competed between two or more similar proprietary systems or systems configured to support audio/video information in a particular proprietary packet format. Such proprietary conference system 100 architecture is illustrated in FIG. 1. Scheduling and initiating video conference calls using a proprietary video conference system requires some degree of familiarity with the system, the system needs to be reserved prior to being used, and there is some system setup needed prior to completing a conference call with a far-end system.
More recently, web or cloud based video conferencing services have become available that support conference calls between two or more endpoints each having any type of computational or communication device that can connect to a communication network and run some sort of a video conference client application. Services of this type are offered by Microsoft under the trade name Skype, and by Google under the trade name of Google Hangouts, and others. These cloud based conferencing services have greatly reduced the infrastructure cost needed to support A/V conference calls, as call can be initiated between two or more points using almost any type of communication device, be it mobile or stationary.
While there are advantages to being able to conduct a conference session using a personal communication device (whether it is mobile or stationary), some conference sessions are best conducted in a location that has non-proprietary equipment that is specially designed to support a conference call, such as a larger display, better sound and video processing equipment, better microphones, better acoustics, to name a few. This non-proprietary A/V equipment is typically much less expensive that the proprietary equipment and it can be installed in an enclosed area of various different sizes in order to provide for a higher quality conference experience.